We’d get our own place, sure, but I knew my dad expected me to utilize my degree by working with his company. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that part, but again, I was fairly certain I didn’t have a choice.
It was a decent little chunk of time before Aspen emerged from the bathroom, and he looked worse for wear than when he’d gone in.
“You okay?” I asked, and he let out a slow breath, pressing his fingers to his temples and massaging in little circles. “Did you get some bad news or something?”
“I, uh…” He trailed off with a little shake of his head, like he was having trouble collecting his thoughts. My brows furrowed as I sat up, ready to cross the room and comfort him if I needed to. “My mom decided to spend Christmas at my sister’s house.”
“Oh,” I said. “That’s okay, isn’t it? You can just go over with her?” He’d only brought up his sister a couple times, along with his young niece, but I hadn’t gotten the impression there was any kind of issue between them.
“No, I mean… Uh, she’s going to be over there the whole time I’m on break, so…” When I still didn’t answer, trying to understand how this information affected him, he went on. “My sister’s house is, like, four hours from here. I don’t trust my car to go that far, let alone make it back at the end of break.”
The gears in my brain started turning, pushing pieces of information along to connect to my comprehension. He couldn’t get to where his mom and sister would be for the whole break, and his house, where he lived with his mom, would be totally empty. He’d have to spend the whole break by himself, like I’d had to last year.
“Stay here,” I blurted out, so sharply that he flinched at the sudden volume. “Please,” I tacked on, hoping that would soften him to the request. Knowing him, he’d view it as afavorand instinctively turn it down without even considering it.
“The dorms are closed for winter break. I can’t stay,” he responded, giving me an odd look.
“No, I mean stayhere,” I said, gesturing to the room around us. “With me.”
“Aren’t you…” He stopped. “Where are you going for break?”
“Nowhere,” I told him. “I don’t have anywhere to go.”
“Where’d you go last year?”
“Nowhere,” I repeated. “I was here the whole time.”
“By yourself?” He asked, and the little note of sympathy rang through loud and clear, making it obvious to me how I’d have to frame the situation to get him to feel comfortable with the idea, and not like I was doing him any favors.
“Just me,” I responded forlornly, giving a little shrug of my shoulder. “Maddox stayed back the first week because he didn’t want his parents to know he skipped that swim trip. But after that, I was all by myself.”
“I didn’t know that,” he said softly, his eyes dark with intensity as he watched me. “I’m sorry.”
“It was really lonely,” I admitted, peering up at him through my lashes, glad I’d stayed seated on the bed so I could do that. “So if your other plans fell through… I’d love to have you here with me. It would make me feel so much better,” I said, and watched the information sink into his brain. “But I totallyunderstand if you want to be with your family,” I tacked on quickly. “I can help. I can take you in the Porsche and drop you off, and pick you back up at the end of break.”
He shook his head quickly, pressing his palms into his eyes. “No! No, that’s asking way too much.”
“I don’t have anything else to do or anywhere else to be,” I reminded him, which was true.
Because the vast majority of their customers were students at the university, and half their staff would be gone as well, Yannis and Sophia were going back to Greece for the break. The café would be closed, so I didn’t even have work to distract me.
“No,” he answered again firmly. “I don’t want you to have to do that.”
Selfishly, I wanted him here with me. Spending three weeks alone with Aspen would be heaven for me regardless, but also avoiding the crushing loneliness I’d expected to feel was almost too good to imagine. But even so, I knew he’d been looking forward to spending time with his mom. I knew he was worried about her health especially while he was gone, but I couldn’t really mention it or act concerned, because I’d promised Ren I wouldn’t make it obvious he’d told me.
“Is… Everything okay?” I asked carefully, standing up from my spot on the bed and walking the few steps over to him. “Is there a reason why she’s staying with your sister when you can’t be there?”
“She just wants to spend the holidays with my niece,” he answered quickly. I couldn’t decide if the answer had cometooquickly, like he’d had to scramble for a lie, or if it had just come quickly because he’d asked her the same thing. “She spent winter break with me last year,” he added. “And they didn’t know I’ve been having problems with my car, so they thought I could come up.”
“I’ll take you,” I offered again.
“No.”
“Then… Stay here,” I said. He bit down into his lip, shifting his gaze to the side.
“For three whole weeks?” He asked, like my ultimate plans didn’t involve setting us up in a mansion and spending every moment with him that I could, for the rest of my life.
“What’s your alternative?” I asked, instead of voicing that particular thought.
